History
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Toponymy[edit]
The Romans founded a fort named Concangis or Concagium, which was a Latinisation of the original Celtic name for the area, which also gave name to the waterway through the town, Cong Burn. The precise name is uncertain as it does not appear in Roman records, but Concangis is the name most cited today. Although a meaning "Place of the horse people" has been given, scholarly authorities consider the meaning of the name obscure.
Old English forms of the name include Cuneceastra and Conceastre, which takes its first two syllables from the Roman name, with the addition of the Old English word ceaster 'Roman fortification'. (For example, the old bell in St Mary and St Cuthbert is inscribed in Latin): Magister Robertus Aschbern, Decanus Cestriae, me fecit. Hac campana data Cuthbertus sic cocitataMaster Robert Ashburn, Dean of the fort, made me. This bell given is thus named Cuthbert The Universal Etymological English Dictionary of 1749 gives the town as Chester upon Street (and describes it as "a Village in the Bishoprick of Durham"). At some point this was shortened to the modern form.
Town biography[edit]
The town's history is ancient. Records date to a Roman-built fort called Concangis, which is the Chester (from the Latin castra) of the town's name; the Street refers to the paved Roman road that ran north–south through the town. The parish church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is where the body of St Cuthbert remained for 112 years (from 883 to 995 AD), before being transferred to Durham Cathedral.
An Old English translation of the Gospels was made in the 10th century: a word-for-word gloss of the Latin Vulgate text, inserted between the lines by Aldred the Scribe, who was Provost of Chester-le-Street.
There is evidence of Iron Age use of the River Wear near the town, Concangis was built alongside the Roman road Cade's Road (now Front Street) and close to the River Wear, around 100 A.D., and was occupied until the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D. At the time, the Wear was navigable to at least Concangis and may also have provided food for the garrisons stationed there.
ln 883, a group of monks, driven out of Lindisfarne seven years earlier, chose a base at Chester-le-Street, having been gifted a church by the Danish king, Guthred. They built a shrine to St Cuthbert, whose body they had borne with them. It became the seat of the Bishop of Lindisfarne, making the church a cathedral. There, the monks translated the Lindisfarne Gospels into English. They stayed for 112 years, leaving in 995 for a safer home in Durham. The title has been revived as the Roman Catholic titular see of Cuncacestre.
The church was rebuilt in stone in 1054 and, despite the loss of its bishopric, seems to have retained a degree of wealth and influence. In 1080, most of the huts in the town were burned and many people killed in retaliation for the death of Walcher, the first prince-bishop, at the hands of an English mob. The town was not recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Cade's Road did not fall out of use but was hidden beneath later roads which became the Great North Road, the main route from London and the south to Newcastle and Edinburgh. The town's location on the road played a significant role in its development, as well as its name, as inns sprang up to cater for the travelling trade. This trade reached a peak in the early 19th century as more people and new mail services were carried by stagecoach, before declining as railways became more popular. The town was bypassed when the A167 road was routed around the town and this was later supplanted by the A1(M) motorway.
From the late 17th century onwards, coal was dug in increasing quantities in the region. At the same time, the growth of the mines and the influx of miners supported local businesses, not just the many inns but new shops and services, themselves bringing in more people to work in them. These people would later work in new industries established in the town to take advantage of its good communications and access to raw materials.
The population at the time of the 1841 census was 2,599 inhabitants.
On the evening of 5 October 1936, the Jarrow Marchers stopped at the town centre after their first day's walk. The church hall was used to house them before they continued onward the following day.
